1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device and an AF control method for a camera or the like that is capable, when a person is being photographed, of automatically focusing on the eyes of the person.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a conventional imaging device of a camera etc. an automatic focus adjustment unit is installed, and adjustment of a photographing lens is carried out automatically so as to focus on a subject. In recent years, it has become general practice to carry out face-priority AF, where a face within a subject is detected, and then focus adjustment is carried out so as to achieve the highest contrast at the position of the face.
However, with this face-priority AF, since focusing is carried out for the entire face, in a case where it is desired to focus on the eyes it is necessary to temporarily cancel face-priority AF, and manually focus on the eyes. There have therefore been various proposals for an automatic focusing unit that automatically focuses on the eyes, without canceling face-priority AF. For example, Japanese patent laid-open No. 2001-215403 (laid-open Aug. 10, 2001), Japanese patent laid-open No. 2005-128156 (laid-open May 19, 2005), Japanese patent laid-open No. 2010-054587 (laid-open Mar. 11, 2010), Japanese unexamined patent application No. 2010-186098 (Aug. 26, 2010), and Japanese unexamined patent application No. 2008-281733 (Nov. 20, 2008).